Gun show opens as debate roils

Stuart Konicar, of Scottsdale, Ariz., examines a Remington Adaptive Combat Rifle on Tuesday at the Remington Defense exhibit during the SHOT trade show in Las Vegas. The rifle is not available for commercial sale.

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LAS VEGAS - One month to the day after the elementary-school massacre that threatens to change the American gun industry, a group based where that atrocity took place mixed defiance with discretion Tuesday in opening the doors to the world's largest gun show.

More than 60,000 gun dealers, retailers and apparel makers are in Las Vegas for the annual Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade convention, hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation of Newtown, Conn.

The four-day "SHOT Show" is not for the public - it's for those who sell to the public. With the killings of 20 schoolchildren and seven adults in Newtown prompting the Obama administration to move quickly on proposing changes in federal gun laws, the attitude in Las Vegas this week is a combination of aggressiveness, attention to image and adaptation to a new environment.

"You didn't cause the monstrous crime in Newtown, and neither did we," Steve Sanetti, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told members on opening night.

On the floor of Sands Expo Convention Center, browsers gripped racks of sleek new AR-15 rifles, many of which can fire off a 30-round magazine in seconds. Retailers showed off new inventions, including the iPhone case that doubles as a stun gun, a women's bra that can holster a handgun - and a product from a Florida company designed to protect schoolchildren from a killer with a gun.

Unlike in past years, the SHOT Show isn't going trying to attract attention. Foundation officials have declined interview requests from non-trade outlets and denied mainstream media credentials a month before the trade show opened. A spokesman said a large media presence would be a distraction.

Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, said industry executives were happy to be interviewed on the convention floor last year after they reported record sales and estimated the value of the sporting gun industry at $4.1 billion.

"This industry is circling the wagons now," Sugarmann said. "The last thing the industry wants America to see and to think about right now is that these are the very guns the industry is promoting. Most people today would be shocked by what the gun industry has become - primarily marketing military style weapons because that's the profit center."

Sanetti was among industry leaders who met Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading the panel that will recommend changes in federal gun laws.

On Monday, Sanettei issued a statement saying, "A prerequisite to any dialogue involving our industry and its products is an honest recognition of the legitimacy of what we do and the important part of the national culture we represent. Hunting and the recreational shooting sports are here to stay. And so are we."